Once more, dear readers, there is going to be a brief delay in the serialization of Sowing Ghosts. (Yes, I know: just when it was getting all exciting, too... well, maybe.)
Blame the aging corpus again. I had oral surgery last week (no, you don't want to know the details, you filthy ghouls you) and while everything seems to have gone well, the aftermath includes, among less-describable (because eww) conditions, a more or less constant state of drug-induced haze. I am assured this won't continue for long, but Prudence (damn her eyes) suggests there's wisdom in not trying to do too much just now.
In the meantime, the drugs are lending an interesting effect to the reading with which I am filling my days. (Tolkien has never seemed so entertaining.) And this is all over-the-counter stuff. Imagine what I could be getting up to if only they still prescribed laudanum...
29 June, 2020
26 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 17.5
Previous First
[concluding chapter 17]
I am going to leave instructions that I not be awakened in the morning. Hiroki found himself stumbling as he walked across the courtyard back to the primary pavilion of the arms master’s mansion. I could sleep for a month.
The guards outside the pavilion had clearly been told to look for him, for two of them came down to meet him as he approached, and then escorted him, one on each side, into the building. “You need not wait to be announced, sir,” one of the guards said. “They are expecting you.”
And probably have been since I left, he thought. Well, if the gods are truly with me it will all be over soon and we can all of us go to bed. He wondered how he was going to explain everything that had happened to Lords Naitō and Matsukata. I’ll wait until we’re on our way home to Kozuke, he decided.
[concluding chapter 17]
I am going to leave instructions that I not be awakened in the morning. Hiroki found himself stumbling as he walked across the courtyard back to the primary pavilion of the arms master’s mansion. I could sleep for a month.
The guards outside the pavilion had clearly been told to look for him, for two of them came down to meet him as he approached, and then escorted him, one on each side, into the building. “You need not wait to be announced, sir,” one of the guards said. “They are expecting you.”
And probably have been since I left, he thought. Well, if the gods are truly with me it will all be over soon and we can all of us go to bed. He wondered how he was going to explain everything that had happened to Lords Naitō and Matsukata. I’ll wait until we’re on our way home to Kozuke, he decided.
25 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 17.4
Previous First
[continuing chapter 17]
“Maids do not have possessions,” Jitsuko told him, her voice rough with sleep. “I have none; Aki had none. There is nothing to show you.” She stood in the veranda of the women’s quarters, shivering with the cold but otherwise unmoving.
“Not even an ink-stone and a brush?” Hiroki asked her.
She started backward, and in the light of his lantern tears sparkled on her cheeks. “Oh, no. No, no, no.” She sank to the floor, prostrated herself. “How did you know this?” She tossed her head such that her hair flowed around his feet. “I did not want to lie, master. Please, tell me — will I be killed?”
[continuing chapter 17]
“Maids do not have possessions,” Jitsuko told him, her voice rough with sleep. “I have none; Aki had none. There is nothing to show you.” She stood in the veranda of the women’s quarters, shivering with the cold but otherwise unmoving.
“Not even an ink-stone and a brush?” Hiroki asked her.
She started backward, and in the light of his lantern tears sparkled on her cheeks. “Oh, no. No, no, no.” She sank to the floor, prostrated herself. “How did you know this?” She tossed her head such that her hair flowed around his feet. “I did not want to lie, master. Please, tell me — will I be killed?”
24 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 17.3
Previous First
[continuing chapter 17]
The guards escorted all of them to the mansion’s largest audience chamber, which was now brightly lit and beginning to warm through the efforts of braziers kindled in all four corners. Hiroki ensured that he entered the room first, having surrendered all of his weapons to the guards, and walked directly up to the dais where the master of the house sat, squeezing his temples with crooked fingers.
Arms Master Lord Miyoshi Takahashi looked distressingly like a ghost himself in the lantern-light. His face, never that attractive, was now pale and lined. The evidence of his fingers and cheeks showed he had not been eating. And was that …? Ah, yes. Of course it is. The liquid had dried, but the track it had made on his temple was still visible.
“My lord,” Hiroki told him softly as he straightened from his bow, “I believe your sister would be pleased if you would not use dye to disguise the mark she has given you.”
[continuing chapter 17]
The guards escorted all of them to the mansion’s largest audience chamber, which was now brightly lit and beginning to warm through the efforts of braziers kindled in all four corners. Hiroki ensured that he entered the room first, having surrendered all of his weapons to the guards, and walked directly up to the dais where the master of the house sat, squeezing his temples with crooked fingers.
Arms Master Lord Miyoshi Takahashi looked distressingly like a ghost himself in the lantern-light. His face, never that attractive, was now pale and lined. The evidence of his fingers and cheeks showed he had not been eating. And was that …? Ah, yes. Of course it is. The liquid had dried, but the track it had made on his temple was still visible.
“My lord,” Hiroki told him softly as he straightened from his bow, “I believe your sister would be pleased if you would not use dye to disguise the mark she has given you.”
23 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 17.2
Previous First
[continuing chapter 17]
“If you don’t mind, I’ll just set mine down,” Shiro said, crouching. “Don’t want to damage it. Not the most magnificent blade, but it’s the only one I’ve got.”
“Please send someone to tell the arms master that Yoshino Hiroki is here,” Hiroki told the guard captain, who remained only dimly visible outside the glow of Shiro’s torch. “If it will speed up his response, give him my apologies for the lateness of the hour, but that I think it important. I have the solution to his ghost problem.”
From the sharp intake of breath Hiroki guessed that the lord’s sleepless nights had become a topic of conversation amidst the inhabitants of the compound. “Go,” the guard told someone. A dark figure ran back toward the gatehouse.
“Who is this?” the captain asked. “One of you?”
[continuing chapter 17]
“If you don’t mind, I’ll just set mine down,” Shiro said, crouching. “Don’t want to damage it. Not the most magnificent blade, but it’s the only one I’ve got.”
“Please send someone to tell the arms master that Yoshino Hiroki is here,” Hiroki told the guard captain, who remained only dimly visible outside the glow of Shiro’s torch. “If it will speed up his response, give him my apologies for the lateness of the hour, but that I think it important. I have the solution to his ghost problem.”
From the sharp intake of breath Hiroki guessed that the lord’s sleepless nights had become a topic of conversation amidst the inhabitants of the compound. “Go,” the guard told someone. A dark figure ran back toward the gatehouse.
“Who is this?” the captain asked. “One of you?”
22 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 17.1
Previous First
Tetsuo rubbed his eyes. “It has been a very long day, Hiroki,” he said. “Couldn’t this meeting wait until morning?”
“I wish I could oblige you,” Hiroki told him. “It has been just as long for me, and I don’t possess your good health.” He resisted the urge to massage his own tired eyes. “But it will be better for everyone, I think, if we finish this tonight.” He looked to the south, searching the moonlit stretch of Suzaku Street for any sign of the third member of the party. “Come on, Shiro,” he said to the lonely road. At least they had a full moon to serve them tonight.
“Can you at least tell me what we’re going to do here?”
“We’re going to confront a murderer,” Hiroki told him. “Possibly two.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
REVELATION
Tetsuo rubbed his eyes. “It has been a very long day, Hiroki,” he said. “Couldn’t this meeting wait until morning?”
“I wish I could oblige you,” Hiroki told him. “It has been just as long for me, and I don’t possess your good health.” He resisted the urge to massage his own tired eyes. “But it will be better for everyone, I think, if we finish this tonight.” He looked to the south, searching the moonlit stretch of Suzaku Street for any sign of the third member of the party. “Come on, Shiro,” he said to the lonely road. At least they had a full moon to serve them tonight.
“Can you at least tell me what we’re going to do here?”
“We’re going to confront a murderer,” Hiroki told him. “Possibly two.”
21 June, 2020
Decadence as a Way of Life
 |
| Thomas Couture, "The Romans of the Decadence" (1847). Image from Musée d'Orsay, via Wikimedia Commons |
Whereas others (I'm looking at you, Ross Douthat) seem not to have much idea at all of what decadence is, just that we are it at the moment.
19 June, 2020
Apparently It's Okay to Not Feel Okay
 |
| Franz von Mieris, "Woman Writing a Letter" via Wikimedia Commons. Probably should have been titled "Woman NOT Writing a Letter," based on the pose and expression. |
The article in question, called "How Anxiety Affects Your Focus," was published on 11 June (2020) but I only learned about it this morning, from Lorna who is my source for pretty much all information about the world now.
(This is because I've been finding it too depressing to read the news lately, for all sorts of reasons I won't bother anybody with and anyway most of you already know about it yourselves.)
The point of the article is that stress both adds to the number of things our minds have to keep track of and, at the same time, reduces our ability to cope with any of those things. In the case of somebody with pretensions to writing one of the bigger of those things is, well, writing.
Your correspondent has two projects on the go at the moment, both sitting idle for months now (one had been idle since last autumn so we can't blame The Plague for that) and despite my earnest desires (we won't talk about best of intentions, at least not just yet) there has been no sign since March of any significant interest in writing. Nor in much of anything else, to be honest.
And while it's nice to know It's Not Just Me, and that there are Reasons for all this not-working, somehow I think I'd be happier being ignorant on this score but being back at work anyway.
Sowing Ghosts 16.5
Previous First
[concluding chapter 16]
“Why are we in such a hurry all of a sudden?” Shiro asked. Once beyond the gates of Hokke-ji, Hiroki had urged them into a canter.
“I am concerned for the well-being of Akamatsu Noritoyo,” Hiroki said.
“Isn’t his fate with the Buddha and the Bodhisattva Kannon now?” Shiro asked. “You already did everything you could to save him, so the rest should be up to the Goddess of Mercy.”
“It’s not his wound I’m worried about,” Hiroki said.
“Oh,” said Tetsuo. “The man who wrote the note. That’s what you’re worried about.”
“I don’t think the note was written by a man,” Hiroki said, “though it was certainly dictated by one. And if that man has learned of the failure of his plans then not only Akamatsu is in danger, but Lords Naitō and Matsukata — and in fact everyone at our mansion. Yes, Tetsuo, that’s what I’m worried about.”
“I’m the fastest rider,” Shiro said. “Why don’t I go on ahead and warn the others?”
“That’s a good idea,” Hiroki said. “Off with you, then. When you arrive, try to arrange for extra guards to watch over Akamatsu and Katsumi. Then meet me and Tetsuo at Lord Miyoshi’s compound.”
Next Characters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14
Chapter 15 Chapter 16
[concluding chapter 16]
“Why are we in such a hurry all of a sudden?” Shiro asked. Once beyond the gates of Hokke-ji, Hiroki had urged them into a canter.
“I am concerned for the well-being of Akamatsu Noritoyo,” Hiroki said.
“Isn’t his fate with the Buddha and the Bodhisattva Kannon now?” Shiro asked. “You already did everything you could to save him, so the rest should be up to the Goddess of Mercy.”
“It’s not his wound I’m worried about,” Hiroki said.
“Oh,” said Tetsuo. “The man who wrote the note. That’s what you’re worried about.”
“I don’t think the note was written by a man,” Hiroki said, “though it was certainly dictated by one. And if that man has learned of the failure of his plans then not only Akamatsu is in danger, but Lords Naitō and Matsukata — and in fact everyone at our mansion. Yes, Tetsuo, that’s what I’m worried about.”
“I’m the fastest rider,” Shiro said. “Why don’t I go on ahead and warn the others?”
“That’s a good idea,” Hiroki said. “Off with you, then. When you arrive, try to arrange for extra guards to watch over Akamatsu and Katsumi. Then meet me and Tetsuo at Lord Miyoshi’s compound.”
Next Characters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14
Chapter 15 Chapter 16
18 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 16.4
Previous First
[continuing chapter 16]
“The palace woman would not stay the night here,” the abbess told them when she rejoined them in the garden, “despite all your warnings. She could not very well refuse my offer of an escort, though, so a dozen arms-men from Tōdaiji are accompanying her palanquin back to the capital.” A weary grin emerged from her round, well-padded face. “Always a most interesting personage with whom to deal,” she said.
“Why is she like that?” Shiro asked. “I have never met anyone so pointlessly rude before.”
“You haven’t met that many people yet,” Hiroki said. He felt the sort of deep calm that always came to him after a long bath. Still, this relief in no way compensated for the pain and disgust generated by having to deal with that woman. For any length of time.
[continuing chapter 16]
“The palace woman would not stay the night here,” the abbess told them when she rejoined them in the garden, “despite all your warnings. She could not very well refuse my offer of an escort, though, so a dozen arms-men from Tōdaiji are accompanying her palanquin back to the capital.” A weary grin emerged from her round, well-padded face. “Always a most interesting personage with whom to deal,” she said.
“Why is she like that?” Shiro asked. “I have never met anyone so pointlessly rude before.”
“You haven’t met that many people yet,” Hiroki said. He felt the sort of deep calm that always came to him after a long bath. Still, this relief in no way compensated for the pain and disgust generated by having to deal with that woman. For any length of time.
17 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 16.3
Previous First
[continuing chapter 16]
Hiroki did not completely believe that his mother was in fact meeting with the abbess until he heard her voice, as bitter and querulous as ever, rising over the gentler sounds of bird and cricket from the garden beside the abbess’s quarters.
“No I will not be interviewed by them,” she said, in a tone and at a volume that any normal person would consider wholly inappropriate for use in a temple, much less a nunnery. “My affairs — my work — are none of their business. Send them away.” Hiroki shifted on the stone bench, the acid voice stirring up a set of horrible memories.
[continuing chapter 16]
Hiroki did not completely believe that his mother was in fact meeting with the abbess until he heard her voice, as bitter and querulous as ever, rising over the gentler sounds of bird and cricket from the garden beside the abbess’s quarters.
“No I will not be interviewed by them,” she said, in a tone and at a volume that any normal person would consider wholly inappropriate for use in a temple, much less a nunnery. “My affairs — my work — are none of their business. Send them away.” Hiroki shifted on the stone bench, the acid voice stirring up a set of horrible memories.
16 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 16.2
Previous First
[continuing chapter 16]
A farmer, walking along the road with a bundle of damp sticks and twigs in his arms, gave them directions to Hokke-ji, which they found in the western part of the old city. Nara was pretty much as Hiroki had imagined it: even riding through the place it was impossible to tell where the palaces and grand buildings had once stood, and even the famous grid, modeled on the ancient Chinese capital city, Chang’an, was no longer visible.
Hokke-ji itself was beautiful in a way that seemed to Hiroki almost unearthly. The temple grounds were spacious, and the gardens were laid out in a style he had never seen before — was it Chinese? Or perhaps something developed by ancestors countless generations removed from the troubled life of the current capital? It was a pleasure — and a relief — to see such beauty untouched by war. So far, at least.
At the centre of the complex was a squat tower that looked as if the Great Buddha from the Tōdaiji had sat on a pagoda, squashing and compacting it.
[continuing chapter 16]
A farmer, walking along the road with a bundle of damp sticks and twigs in his arms, gave them directions to Hokke-ji, which they found in the western part of the old city. Nara was pretty much as Hiroki had imagined it: even riding through the place it was impossible to tell where the palaces and grand buildings had once stood, and even the famous grid, modeled on the ancient Chinese capital city, Chang’an, was no longer visible.
Hokke-ji itself was beautiful in a way that seemed to Hiroki almost unearthly. The temple grounds were spacious, and the gardens were laid out in a style he had never seen before — was it Chinese? Or perhaps something developed by ancestors countless generations removed from the troubled life of the current capital? It was a pleasure — and a relief — to see such beauty untouched by war. So far, at least.
At the centre of the complex was a squat tower that looked as if the Great Buddha from the Tōdaiji had sat on a pagoda, squashing and compacting it.
15 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 16.1
Previous First
“I’m sorry, Hiroki,” Tetsuo said, “but I can’t make this out at all.” Leaning toward Hiroki he passed the note back, cursing when his horse started at its sudden proximity to Hiroki’s mount.
“I’m not surprised,” Hiroki told him. “It’s appallingly badly written.”
“Worse than a child’s brushwork,” Shiro said, nodding his agreement. Hiroki noted with some amusement that, while Shiro hadn’t admitted his own failure to be able to read the note, neither had he offered to enlighten Tetsuo as to its contents.
“So tell me, somebody, what it says.” Tetsuo was definitely upset about his inability to decipher the note.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WITHDRAWING
“I’m not surprised,” Hiroki told him. “It’s appallingly badly written.”
“Worse than a child’s brushwork,” Shiro said, nodding his agreement. Hiroki noted with some amusement that, while Shiro hadn’t admitted his own failure to be able to read the note, neither had he offered to enlighten Tetsuo as to its contents.
“So tell me, somebody, what it says.” Tetsuo was definitely upset about his inability to decipher the note.
14 June, 2020
There's No Movie for This
 |
| No guns here: A still from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (image ganked from somewhere on the web; original owned by Toho Pictures, no doubt) |
Over the next decade and change these hinawajū effected a great change in the way the Japanese fought one another, a change I did not want to see reflected in the story I was telling. The year 1543 also stands as a placeholder for the fifteenth-century contact between Japan and Europe.
And I definitely did not want any Europeans in this story. I've read too many stories supposedly about early modern Japan in which the viewpoint character is European. (Don't get me started about that Tom Cruise movie.) Nor did I want any guns. I'm as fascinated by firearms as many males are, but they had no place in the story I wanted to tell.
13 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 15.4
Previous First
[concluding chapter 15]
“Shiro is in the bath, isn’t he?” Hiroki said when Jiro greeted him just inside the gate. Hiroki’s knee throbbed from the pace he’d had to set in order to catch up with Shiro and Tetsuo, and even then he hadn’t managed it. Still, even a day ago he wouldn’t have been able to walk this quickly at all, much less do it with as little pain as he was feeling now. He allowed himself a small measure of satisfaction with the treatment he had provided himself.
Now if only he could be as effective in treating the pain in his spirit. The contents of the note had come close to destroying the stability of spirit his work required.
“Otomo-dono? He is, master,” Jiro said. “I’ve placed the injured man in the kitchen of Lord Naitō’s quarters. I thought it the best place for him. We can’t put him in the women’s quarters with Katsumi and her nurse, and I wasn’t certain you’d want him in your place. That left just the stables or servant’s quarters, and that didn’t seem right for a samurai.”
“Lord Naitō agreed to this?”
[concluding chapter 15]
“Shiro is in the bath, isn’t he?” Hiroki said when Jiro greeted him just inside the gate. Hiroki’s knee throbbed from the pace he’d had to set in order to catch up with Shiro and Tetsuo, and even then he hadn’t managed it. Still, even a day ago he wouldn’t have been able to walk this quickly at all, much less do it with as little pain as he was feeling now. He allowed himself a small measure of satisfaction with the treatment he had provided himself.
Now if only he could be as effective in treating the pain in his spirit. The contents of the note had come close to destroying the stability of spirit his work required.
“Otomo-dono? He is, master,” Jiro said. “I’ve placed the injured man in the kitchen of Lord Naitō’s quarters. I thought it the best place for him. We can’t put him in the women’s quarters with Katsumi and her nurse, and I wasn’t certain you’d want him in your place. That left just the stables or servant’s quarters, and that didn’t seem right for a samurai.”
“Lord Naitō agreed to this?”
12 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 15.3
Previous First
[continuing chapter 15]
“Why are you sure it’s Akamatsu Noritoyo she went to see?” Hiroki wanted to tell Shiro to slow down, but he knew that an easier pace was not a luxury he could afford.
“That was how she referred to her visits to him,” Shiro said. “On behalf of Lady Tomiko. Offerings to love, sacrifices to love — that was how she described the way she had taken news of her mistress’s death to Akamatsu.”
“Lady Tomiko has been dead and burned for days now,” Tetsuo said, not in the slightest out of breath. “What could Aki possibly be taking to him now, after all this time?”
[continuing chapter 15]
“Why are you sure it’s Akamatsu Noritoyo she went to see?” Hiroki wanted to tell Shiro to slow down, but he knew that an easier pace was not a luxury he could afford.
“That was how she referred to her visits to him,” Shiro said. “On behalf of Lady Tomiko. Offerings to love, sacrifices to love — that was how she described the way she had taken news of her mistress’s death to Akamatsu.”
“Lady Tomiko has been dead and burned for days now,” Tetsuo said, not in the slightest out of breath. “What could Aki possibly be taking to him now, after all this time?”
11 June, 2020
Tired of This Game; What's My Saving Throw?
 |
| Xaver Winterhalter: "The Decameron" (1837). Image from Wikimedia Commons. There are a lot of Decameron images... |
Amongst the books I've read while trapped at home* is Joshua Levine's The Secret History of the Blitz (not really all that secret, but hey, catchy title); there are some interesting parallels between what people went through in London in 1940-41 and what many of us are dealing with eighty years later. One big difference, though, is that during the Blitz some of the risks (and the fear) could be shared (sheltering in the Tube stations, strangers spontaneously helping one another out) whereas today we have to pretty much keep to ourselves.
Yes, we can all keep in touch with one another via Zoom or Discord or whatever Google is calling its conferencing system this week. But it turns out you can't get much more in the way of nuance from a video chat than you can from text messaging.
Also, it is not nearly as much fun buying books online as it is charging into the musty scent of an old bookstore whose stock threatens at every moment to avalanche down on you.
*It is supremely depressing to realize that if it were possible to play Risk Factor Bingo, I would be able to win the game outright. Accordingly I am not allowed out of the house except to drive Lorna to the market. Not a lot of difference between sitting by myself in the house and sitting by myself in the car, I'm afraid.
Sowing Ghosts 15.2
Previous First
[continuing chapter 15]
“You’re hardly limping at all this morning,” Tetsuo said as they passed the Imperial Palace. “Did Lady Tomiko’s ghost heal you?”
“It’s possible,” Hiroki told him. “Certainly something happened last night, because I felt almost my old self this morning when I woke. I still hurt, of course, and probably will for days yet.” If not weeks. “But the hurt is more of an ache now. The way your muscles feel after a long day’s walking, you know?”
“Or a short day’s fighting.”
“That as well. But without the blood. Speaking of which, how is your shoulder? I apologize for not having asked sooner.”
[continuing chapter 15]
“You’re hardly limping at all this morning,” Tetsuo said as they passed the Imperial Palace. “Did Lady Tomiko’s ghost heal you?”
“It’s possible,” Hiroki told him. “Certainly something happened last night, because I felt almost my old self this morning when I woke. I still hurt, of course, and probably will for days yet.” If not weeks. “But the hurt is more of an ache now. The way your muscles feel after a long day’s walking, you know?”
“Or a short day’s fighting.”
“That as well. But without the blood. Speaking of which, how is your shoulder? I apologize for not having asked sooner.”
10 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 15.1
Previous First
The fifteenth day of the second month
“Tell me, Shiro,” Hiroki said after swallowing some pickled eggplant, “what do you and the maid Aki talk about after you’ve fucked?”
Shiro choked on his tea.
Tetsuo grunted a sort of displeased satisfaction. “I told you you’d never be able to keep it hidden from him,” he said to Shiro. He turned to Hiroki. “How did you find out, Hiroki?”
“I didn’t find out myself. Lady Tomiko’s ghost told me, last night, when she invaded my dreams.”
“A yūrei,” Tetsuo said, softly.
“Not just a ghost,” Hiroki said. “Worse than that: An onryō. Lady Tomiko is a very unhappy ghost. And she seems to be as unhappy with poor Aki as she is with her brother.” And with me, he did not add.
“So when did you take up with her, Shiro, and what have you been talking about when you’re not bedding her?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LOVERS
“Tell me, Shiro,” Hiroki said after swallowing some pickled eggplant, “what do you and the maid Aki talk about after you’ve fucked?”
Shiro choked on his tea.
Tetsuo grunted a sort of displeased satisfaction. “I told you you’d never be able to keep it hidden from him,” he said to Shiro. He turned to Hiroki. “How did you find out, Hiroki?”
“I didn’t find out myself. Lady Tomiko’s ghost told me, last night, when she invaded my dreams.”
“A yūrei,” Tetsuo said, softly.
“Not just a ghost,” Hiroki said. “Worse than that: An onryō. Lady Tomiko is a very unhappy ghost. And she seems to be as unhappy with poor Aki as she is with her brother.” And with me, he did not add.
“So when did you take up with her, Shiro, and what have you been talking about when you’re not bedding her?”
09 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 14.2
Previous First
Hiroki woke to the sound of rain on the roof. His face was as wet as if he had been bathing or swimming, and he felt short of breath as if he had been running or fighting.
Suddenly he knew why the arms master had been summoning exorcist monks to him. Lady Tomiko had become an onryō — a vengeful ghost. If she was haunting her brother, it was because the lord had wronged her sufficiently as to cause her death; the haunting was part of the vengeance she could never have wreaked upon him while she lived. But how had he wronged her? As her elder brother there was very little he was not justified in doing to her.
And why has she visited me?
[Concluding chapter 14]
Hiroki woke to the sound of rain on the roof. His face was as wet as if he had been bathing or swimming, and he felt short of breath as if he had been running or fighting.
Suddenly he knew why the arms master had been summoning exorcist monks to him. Lady Tomiko had become an onryō — a vengeful ghost. If she was haunting her brother, it was because the lord had wronged her sufficiently as to cause her death; the haunting was part of the vengeance she could never have wreaked upon him while she lived. But how had he wronged her? As her elder brother there was very little he was not justified in doing to her.
And why has she visited me?
08 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 14.1
Previous First
Lady Tomiko.
Hiroki saw himself saying her name, but did not feel any movement of lips or tongue, nor did he hear any sound. The lady seemed to have heard him, though, because she turned to look at him and she was horrible to behold:
Her hair was unwound and hung all down her body, parted front and back and from side to side; and on each part of the quartered mass of glossy black was a broad, white streak. Her eyes, staring at him, were filmed the same unearthly white, the white of the streak in her hair that was also the white of her burial robe. He knew what he would see when he looked down, did not want to look, but looked nevertheless.
Lady Tomiko’s legs and gown faded into mist below her knees; there were no ankles, no feet.
A ghost, he thought. I am talking with a ghost.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
GHOSTS
Hiroki saw himself saying her name, but did not feel any movement of lips or tongue, nor did he hear any sound. The lady seemed to have heard him, though, because she turned to look at him and she was horrible to behold:
Her hair was unwound and hung all down her body, parted front and back and from side to side; and on each part of the quartered mass of glossy black was a broad, white streak. Her eyes, staring at him, were filmed the same unearthly white, the white of the streak in her hair that was also the white of her burial robe. He knew what he would see when he looked down, did not want to look, but looked nevertheless.
Lady Tomiko’s legs and gown faded into mist below her knees; there were no ankles, no feet.
A ghost, he thought. I am talking with a ghost.
06 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 13.6
Previous First
“Hiroki, do you still have some of your medicine mixed up?” Hiroki opened his eyes to find Tetsuo staring at him, eyes tight with worry. Do I? Hiroki asked himself. What happened to my horse? He didn’t remember dismounting. But here he was, at the mansion’s gate.
He decided that he did indeed have — whatever it was Tetsuo had asked him about — and nodded. “Good,” Tetsuo said. “I am going to tell Jiro to warm you some of that and get it into you while you’re in the bath.” He looked at Hiroki more closely. “I don’t think you should be in the bath very long. You’re hot enough as it is.”
“I’m freezing,” Hiroki told him. “I think that Motonaga’s stare has frozen me as badly as that stream did.” That is a man you do not want to know better, he told himself. Who was it who had said Motonaga was incomprehensible? I should have tried harder to get my message to Hosokawa Katsunata.
[Concluding chapter 13]
“Hiroki, do you still have some of your medicine mixed up?” Hiroki opened his eyes to find Tetsuo staring at him, eyes tight with worry. Do I? Hiroki asked himself. What happened to my horse? He didn’t remember dismounting. But here he was, at the mansion’s gate.
He decided that he did indeed have — whatever it was Tetsuo had asked him about — and nodded. “Good,” Tetsuo said. “I am going to tell Jiro to warm you some of that and get it into you while you’re in the bath.” He looked at Hiroki more closely. “I don’t think you should be in the bath very long. You’re hot enough as it is.”
“I’m freezing,” Hiroki told him. “I think that Motonaga’s stare has frozen me as badly as that stream did.” That is a man you do not want to know better, he told himself. Who was it who had said Motonaga was incomprehensible? I should have tried harder to get my message to Hosokawa Katsunata.
05 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 13.5
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Dismounting in the yard was a stranger who could only, Hiroki decided, be Miyoshi Motonaga. Immediately behind him was a bodyguard of at least twenty warriors. All were armoured — And their armour all matches, Hiroki thought, remembering the collections of mismatched pieces he, Shiro and Tetsuo owned. And all of those pieces back at the mansion, where they will do us no good.
“You are a very resourceful man, Yoshino Hiroki,” Lord Miyoshi said, saluting him briefly with a metal war-fan. “I had not expected you to find Nakamura at all, much less this quickly. I see I should not have underestimated you, and should have removed Nakamura from your path more quickly.”
[Continuing chapter 13]
Shiro had backed up to the wine-shop’s entrance, sword in hand, by time Hiroki had limped to it. “Out of my way,” Hiroki told him. “At least until I see what we’re — oh.”Dismounting in the yard was a stranger who could only, Hiroki decided, be Miyoshi Motonaga. Immediately behind him was a bodyguard of at least twenty warriors. All were armoured — And their armour all matches, Hiroki thought, remembering the collections of mismatched pieces he, Shiro and Tetsuo owned. And all of those pieces back at the mansion, where they will do us no good.
“You are a very resourceful man, Yoshino Hiroki,” Lord Miyoshi said, saluting him briefly with a metal war-fan. “I had not expected you to find Nakamura at all, much less this quickly. I see I should not have underestimated you, and should have removed Nakamura from your path more quickly.”
04 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 13.4
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“I never really wished there were more of us,” Tetsuo said, “until now.”
“I agree,” said Shiro, but he grinned as he spoke. “If this scarface has more than eight or ten men with him, the two of us might be in a bit of trouble.”
“I will be more than content,” Hiroki said, “to find him alone and dead drunk. I want to interrogate him before we kill him.”
[Continuing chapter 13]
“I never really wished there were more of us,” Tetsuo said, “until now.”
“I agree,” said Shiro, but he grinned as he spoke. “If this scarface has more than eight or ten men with him, the two of us might be in a bit of trouble.”
“I will be more than content,” Hiroki said, “to find him alone and dead drunk. I want to interrogate him before we kill him.”
03 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 13.3
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“I look terrible, don’t I?” Katsumi grinned up at Hiroki, her face pale but her mouth determined. “Without my good looks, where will I be?”
“There is nothing wrong with your good looks,” Hiroki said, relieved to find her joking even if the humour was forced and an inadequate veneer over her pain. “I see they were coward enough to use arrows, at least at first.” The worst of Katsumi’s wounds was to her left calf: an arrowhead and part of the shaft had gone straight through the fleshy part. Even if the main body of the muscle was undamaged she could well have a limp for the rest of her life. We match now in our infirmities, he thought, and refused to dwell on any other ways in which they might be matched.
[Continuing chapter 13]
“I look terrible, don’t I?” Katsumi grinned up at Hiroki, her face pale but her mouth determined. “Without my good looks, where will I be?”
“There is nothing wrong with your good looks,” Hiroki said, relieved to find her joking even if the humour was forced and an inadequate veneer over her pain. “I see they were coward enough to use arrows, at least at first.” The worst of Katsumi’s wounds was to her left calf: an arrowhead and part of the shaft had gone straight through the fleshy part. Even if the main body of the muscle was undamaged she could well have a limp for the rest of her life. We match now in our infirmities, he thought, and refused to dwell on any other ways in which they might be matched.
02 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 13.2
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“There is no question of it, my lord. I have seen his face every time I have escorted my superiors to your mansion. The dead man was one of your guards.”
Arms Master Lord Miyoshi Takahashi scowled, smacking his folded fan against his thigh, but he said nothing, could say nothing. The lord looked if anything worse today than he had the last time Hiroki had been granted an audience. He is not sleeping, or not well, Hiroki thought. Is his sense of honour keeping him awake at nights? Or does he fear his cousin Motonaga so much?
[Continuing chapter 13]
“There is no question of it, my lord. I have seen his face every time I have escorted my superiors to your mansion. The dead man was one of your guards.”
Arms Master Lord Miyoshi Takahashi scowled, smacking his folded fan against his thigh, but he said nothing, could say nothing. The lord looked if anything worse today than he had the last time Hiroki had been granted an audience. He is not sleeping, or not well, Hiroki thought. Is his sense of honour keeping him awake at nights? Or does he fear his cousin Motonaga so much?
01 June, 2020
Sowing Ghosts 13.1
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Nijō Avenue was impassable to anyone on horseback a hundred paces or more from Katsumi’s teashop. When Hiroki reined his horse to a stop he expected to be swarmed by townspeople eager to assist him in dismounting; instead he was resolutely ignored, even by the children who swarmed around and through the crowd of people who stood, blocking the way and waving improvised weapons at the sky. It wasn’t until Shiro and Tetsuo caught up with him that he was able to get the assistance he needed.
“Stay here and watch the horses,” he told Shiro. Shiro opened his mouth to protest, got a good look at Hiroki’s face and shut his mouth again. “Tetsuo, come with me and watch my back. Do not draw your sword.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FIRE
“Stay here and watch the horses,” he told Shiro. Shiro opened his mouth to protest, got a good look at Hiroki’s face and shut his mouth again. “Tetsuo, come with me and watch my back. Do not draw your sword.”
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